Sony financials: game business loses $8 million, projections slashed 40%
Sony has posted its latest quarterly and half-year financial report, revealing that its game arm lost ¥0.8 billion / $8 million for the period. As such, the company has lopped 40% off its full-year projections.
The report was posted here, and covers the three-month period ended September 31, 2013.
The quarterly figures flag the game division's ¥0.8 billion ($8 million) operating loss, compared to its ¥2.4 billion profit for the same period last year. However, sales were up 5.1% year-on-year at ¥155.7 billion compared to last year's ¥148.2 billion.
However, the 5.1% increase transforms into a 14% decrease when the tumbling value of the Yen becomes stacked against the Dollar and Euro.
The report says of the $8 million loss, "The decrease in sales on a constant currency basis was primarily due to a decrease in unit sales of PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PSP hardware, partially offset by increased PS3 software unit sales compared to the same quarter of the previous fiscal year.
"This year-on-year decline was primarily due to the impact of of a strategic price reduction for the PlayStation Vita and the unfavourable impact of foreign exchange rates, partially off-set by the above mentioned increase in software unit sales."
The impact of PlayStation 4's R&D, marketing and production cost were mentioned but no figures were disclosed. The report reads, "In the Game segment, operating loss significantly increased year-on-year primarily due to an increase in research and development expenses related to the upcoming introduction of the PlayStation 4 and the impact of a strategic price reduction for the PS Vita."
Sony's disclosed its half-year figures further on in the report. The game division's sales for the period were up 2.8% at ¥273.6 billion, compared to ¥266.1 billion year-on-year.
However, it seems that the company is paring back the rest of its operations due to a few shortcomings at Sony Pictures and other divisions. As a result, the company's ¥50 billion net profit forecast has been hacked 40% to ¥30 billion.
What do you make of the figures above? Can PS4 turn things around? Let us know below.